The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) had organized the First India Disaster Management Congress in Vigyan Bhavan New Delhi on 29-30 November 2006. Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India inaugurated the Congress. More than 1200 hundred delegates from all over the country attended and 350 technical papers were presented in 18 Thematic Sessions organized around Thematic Clusters. This was the largest knowledge conference on disaster management ever held in this part of the world.

Encouraged by the resounding success of the First India Disaster Management Congress, NIDM has decided to organize the Second India Disaster Management Congress in New Delhi on 4-6 November, 2009 on an even larger scale. The Congress shall be held in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi and a total of 26 Technical Sessions are proposed to be organized in around 13 Thematic Clusters. The Second India Disaster Management Congress is expected to bring together 1500 scientists, scholars and practitioners working on different aspects of disaster risk reduction and management across the world.